The place where Michael Ruffin asks questions, raises issues, makes observations and seeks help in trying to figure it all out so that together we can maybe, just maybe, do something about it.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

An Act of Civil Disobedience

I am with some friends in the land of the Mouse on our annual Spring Training trip. We are in the midst of six Braves games in six days at Champion Field at Disney's Wide World of Sports. So far, no good--the Braves have lost both games we have seen, one to Detroit and one to Houston.

At today's game, the public address announcer jumped the gun and invited us to stand for the seventh inning stretch at the end of the sixth inning. For those of you who are unfamiliar with baseball tradition, the seventh inning stretch takes place in the middle of the seventh inning. But when the announcer asked us to stand a half-inning early, the Philharmonic Saxophone Orchestra (they really have such a thing) rushed out onto the field and played "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and most of the people in the place dutifully stood and sang along.

I kept my seat. It was just wrong.

I'm not one to rock the boat, but sometimes you just can't in good conscience go along with the crowd.

3 comments:

I have been reading and enjoying your blog for about a month. Your act of civil disobedience has inspired me to respond. Not standing during the sixth inning stretch is all well and good. My question is how do you possess the courage to make an annual trip to spring training with your buddies and remain married? Are these trips your idea or did your wife suggest that you go? Either way I am envious.

Thanks for walking with me

Here at On the Jericho Road I hope to engage in conversations about the places where real faith meets real life. The controlling symbol for the work I will do on the blog comes from the parable of the Good Samaritan. The man who was beaten and left for dead beside the road to Jericho was a human being whose situation created a crisis not only for him but also for those folks who saw him there. What would they do? What should they do? We are confronted with similar situations all the time. How does our faith inform our thought processes, our decision making, and our action taking? I want us to think about confronting with real faith those real situations that come up in real life. I hope that our thinking leads us to appropriate action. Thanks for joining in the conversation.

The views expressed on this blog are mine and do not reflect those of the institutions with which I work.